Less than 48 hours after being elected, Pope Leo XIV got in the front seat of a minivan and traveled 40 miles southeast from the Vatican to pray at a Marian shrine cared for by his Augustinian confreres.
And on his way back to the Vatican May 10, he went to Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, stopping to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis and before the icon of Mary "Salus Populi Romani" (health of the Roman people).
The Vatican press office said he arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano just after 4 p.m. local time. The shrine is famous for a small fresco of Mary holding the infant Jesus.
A description on a website of Catholic shrines says, "The Christ Child nestles close to his mother. Mary supports Jesus with her left arm. She bends her head toward him, and their cheeks touch tenderly."
The ancient image is "dear to the order" of Augustinians and was beloved by Pope Leo XIII, whom the new pope is named after, the press office said.
Several hundred people cheered the pope's arrival at the shrine, and he greeted many of them before going into the shrine to greet the friars. "He stopped in prayer in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin where he and those present recited the prayer of St. John Paul II to Our Lady of Good Counsel."
St. John Paul had visited the shrine in April 1993.
The prayer assures Mary that the faithful turn to her with "their hopes and sorrows, their desires and needs, their many tears shed and their yearning for a better future. Turn, O Mother, your gaze upon this people, accept their generous intentions, accompany them on their journey toward a future of justice, solidarity and peace."
Pope Leo told those gathered at the shrine, "I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the church has given me" to seek Mary's help "to carry out this mission as Successor of Peter."
The spoke of his "trust in the Mother of Good Counsel," who has been a companion of "light, wisdom."
Before leaving the town, he told the people that the shrine and the Marian image are "a great gift" that carries with it a responsibility. "Just as our Mother never abandons her children, you must remain faithful to her."
